Angels
by Emilinia-sama
Summary: the year is 2022. the human race is on the fritz due to a race of humanoid androids. the only ones that can bring them back are an orginazation of men and two women androids. did we mention the insane leader? ClouTi Zaerith other chars may be here to
1. Chapter 1

Me: woot! debut FFVII fic! i think it's my fav story so far!

Fuu: Cloud is smexy!!

Xao: ...unfortanetly, we don't him or anyone else from FFVII.

Me: no one on this WHOLE site owns anything!! why do we have to say it?!?! ...whatever. hope you like this!

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Angels

Chapter 1

The year is 2022. In this world there is a constant war fought between mankind and the beings known as Angels. Humanoid androids with no reason for being here, they came ten years ago; the day the Mayans predicted our apocalypse. The Angels took away the freedom of man and Earth, ensnaring the women and massacring the men, adult and child alike. Nobody knew why, but only those the Angels deemed worthy of being "Delivered" were the only ones that survived.

Or so they believed.

"Hey air-head! Are you in position?"

"Don't call me that," a young man with blond, spiky hair said into a radio transceiver. He looked at the hospital building with disdain sparking in his blue eyes made darker by the moonless night.

"Fine then, Spiky. Now, are you in position, or not?" a deep voice on the other end of the transceiver demanded.

"Yeah."

"They haven't caught ya yet, have they?" another, lighter voice asked.

"Would I be talking to you if they _had_, Zack?" the young man whispered, annoyed, into the transceiver.

"Okay, okay. Calm down there, Spiky. No need to get testy."

"I'm not getting testy, you backwater-doofus."

"Ditto to you too, Cloud," Zack returned.

Cloud rolled his eyes, but quickly returned them to the hospital building.

Someone was walking out of the hospital's double doors. It was a woman with black hair done in a bob cut and tied back with a black and white bandana. She wore a blue midriff and yellow mini-shorts and knee-high boots. But her revealing outfit didn't catch Cloud's eye like the things folded on the girl's back. They unfurled.

Silver bladed wings stretched out from the girl's back just beneath the girl's shoulder blades. They were the only indication that the girl was either no longer human or was never human to begin with. One could never tell with these killers.

The girl swayed a little, her face flushed by some drug, before she took to the sky. She flew in drunken zigzags, but she didn't crash, much to the spiky blonde's disappointment.

The man turned back to the hospital and watched for any more movement. He looked down at his watch. Only five minutes to go…

Cloud sighed heavily. Waiting sucked, especially when he had had to wait for these ten long years for a chance to get back at the bitches that had driven humanity into a corner.

"Is everything set and ready?" Cloud whispered into his transceiver.

"It is on my end," Zack answered.

"The kid's just got a couple o' wires left and we're done. Hurry it up, would ya?!" the deeper voice told Cloud.

"Barret," Cloud heard Zack tell the deep voiced man, "give the poor kid a break, will you?"

"We don't have time!!"

"Keep it down!" Cloud whispered angrily.

"Well…"

"Just shut up," Cloud ordered. "This is or first mission! Don't screw it up by alerting the enemy!"

There was silence on the other ends. "Wow, Cloud. I didn't think you'd be so gung ho about this."

"Well, somebody's gotta be. You two obviously aren't," the blond retorted. Nobody answered to that and for the next few minutes there was an awkward silence. With only two minutes left, Barret gave the verbal thumbs up. "Alright," Cloud whispered once more, "Let's make this good, guys. On my signal, 'kay?"

"Sure thing, boss-man," Zack agreed breezily.

Barret grumbled something like, "I'm the leader of AC… why ain't _I_ callin' the shots here?" before reluctantly agreeing.

Cloud sniffed in slight amusement before looking back at the hospital. Winged androids walked in and out of the building, the outside lights waking their metal wings to turn white, making up for the lack of moonlight. Cloud looked down at his watch.

It was time.

"Alright. Get ready, kiddies. I'm goin' in," he announced. He stood up from his hiding spot and walked into the light. Two Angel women walked out of the hospital building. Both were tall with long hair, one auburn red hanging down to her shoulders, the other's gold locks fell to the small of her back. He couldn't see their faces except for the silver-green lighting of their eyes.

Both looked at Cloud with eyes wide with shock.

"Evening, ladies. Hope you like fireworks," Cloud commented pleasantly.

The two women looked at each other before spreading their sword wings. Cloud tensed, preparing for the women's attack. The women jumped up straight into the air…

…And into a window on the third floor.

Cloud blanched in horror. He realized right away he should _not_ have done that. "Zack! Barret! Do it! Now!!"

"Alrighty!"

"Cloud! Get out o' there!"

Cloud began to run in the other direction when he thought he saw a light over head. He looked up, but he couldn't see anything in the starlit sky. He turned his attention to the ground beneath him and jumped into a bush growing near the sidewalk only a second before the building went up in a explosion of light and fire.

"Alright, Spiky! It's done!"

Cloud panted. "Good job. Let's head back."

"Roger. Off to grandmother's house we go! Over and out."

"See you two morons at home," Barret told Cloud and Zack.

"See you…meat-head." Cloud turned off his transceiver before Barret could yell at him. He continued running toward Midguard, chuckling a little to himself.

_\| ******--****** |/_

Inside a secret facility known only to the Angels, screams of intense agony filled the halls. The Angels were experimenting on young human girls, trying to find ways to make them more powerful weapons for the next world they decided to stop in. the humans that had already been transformed were proving to be ten times more powerful than the original Angels.

One of the transformed humans, known as a Delivered One, was floating inside a large tank. It was a young woman in her mid twenties with black hair grown long and tied in a low pony tail. A mask was tied over her nose and mouth, allowing oxygen to flow to her.

"How long until she recovers?"

An Angel looked over at the woman's status. "One more hour exactly, Commander."

"Good. See that she is taken to the discipline room once she wakes. Use force should she refuse."

The other Angel nodded to her official. The Angel's lifestyle was incredibly militaristic, with high-standing officers and disciplinary measures should the laws be broken.

The Angel healer looked back to the young human-Angel. The patient's human name had been- and still was to the patient- Tifa Lockhart. The Angel's had renamed her Shoda Russhu, but she never answered to the name, much to Generals' contempt. She had been one of the newest to join the Angel's ranks, and so far one of their best.

However, she was also one of the most difficult to control. Most of the humans that had survived the transformation were to an extent, especially if they were just 'born,' as they had never wanted to change when human. But most merely had to experience the disciplinary measures to stop resisting the Angel's control.

Tifa Lockhart, however, along with one other Delivered One, still resisted the Angel's torturous discipline and retained a human's conscience. The generals were near their wits' end. If Tifa and the other Delivered One hadn't been two of the Angel's best soldiers, they would have been disposed of before their wings had been fully developed.

The woman's wings shimmered silver and fluorescent green inside the healer's liquid. As the hour passed, Tifa's limbs twitched as power and life flowed into her body.

The healer turned as a knock came from the metal door. A girl in her late teens with long brown hair done in a single braid stood in the doorway. She made her way towards the healer.

"Is she going to be okay?"

The girl was named Aerith Gainsborough in her human life. Her Angel name was Jakifuin and she had the reputation of being the other strongest Delivered One brought into existence. She was also just as stubborn as the woman in the kryotank. The two were known to be rather close as both war companions and rebels.

"Shoda Russhu will be fine, Jakifuin. There is no reason for alarm."

"I'm not _alarmed_, Miss. I know Tifa's tough; I'm just kind of worried for what'll happen to her next, is all."

The healer glanced over at the girl with disinterest before looking back to her ward. "The same will happen to you, should you not watch yourself, Jakifuin."

Aerith glared at the healer. "I keep telling you, my name's Aerith! Quit calling me Jakifuin!"

"Watch your tone, soldier."

"Don't tell me what to do, doc!"

The healer glared at the fiery Angel before turning towards the door. On the wall next to it was a small box that looked like a human's thermostat. The healer pressed a button, then proceeded to dial a number and waited. There was a click before a deep female voice answered, "General Pain. What is your status?"

"This is Healer Summer requesting the discipline of Soldier Jakifuin."

"What are her charges?"

Aerith looked away from the healer's tattle-telling to their officials. It was the same as every charge she received punishment for, after all. Disrespect, talking back, not minding her officials, etc. It never changed.

The brunette looked at the dials that controlled her friend's recovery; she looked back at Tifa. Most of the woman's wounds were diminished, and only her deepest wounds were still scars.

Aeirth glanced over her shoulder at the healer. She was still conversing with their General about Aerith's punishment. The girl turned back to the controls.

There was a button labeled 'Open' on the panel in the left corner. Aerith smirked and pushed the button.

Aerith nearly fell over, however, as the computer asked for a password. The girl racked her brain, but couldn't think of what the unemotional Angel's what would use as a password.

After a minute of thinking, she gave up on trying cracking the computer's password and just drew her weapon. She ran up to the kryotank brandishing her long staff and began to beat the glass. Inside the kryotank, Tifa jolted awake as Aerith hit at the glass. She shut her eyes a second later, however, at the blinding light inside the glass healing tank. She opened her eyes slower to see Aerith hitting the tank with her metal rod.

The black haired woman absorbed in everything in an instant. Her younger friend was trying to bust Tifa out at the risk of her own neck. There was another Angel rushing up towards her- probably a healer- demanding her to "Cease and desist."

The young woman took immediate action. She brought her foot around in a round kick against the glass, trying to shatter the glass from the inside while her friend worked the outside.

Finally, with one last, massive swing from Aerith, the glass shattered into a multitude of glittering fragments. The liquid Tifa had been floating in drained through the hole as Tifa ripped the air mask off and jumped through the hole, disregarding the broken remains of the tank that cut at her arms and legs.

"Thanks," she murmured to Aerith.

"No problem. Now let's get outta here!"

Tifa nodded and charged to the metal door. The healer flew at them, her eyes murderous. Tifa skidded under the charging woman; she jumped up between the healer's legs. The fighter grabbed them and hurled the healer in a circle before releasing her into the wall.

"Nice," Aerith complimented. Tifa nodded her assent before making the rest of the way to the door. The two girls ran through the door at lightning speed before allowing their wings to take over.

Tifa glanced over at Aeirth. "Thief 'em and leave 'em?"

"Sounds good! Where's the storage room?"

"This way!" Tifa sped ahead of her brunette companion to a side hallway. Her silver wings tucked into the small of her back neatly as she landed before a door. The woman lifted her foot and kicked the door; she stormed into the room with Aerith following close behind.

The two looked around them and gaped in amazement.

"Check out all the materia!"

Glowing orbs of many colors lay around the two girls in heaps and piles, glowing with energy and life. Materia was the physical collection of the planet's life energy. They had many different powers, mysterious until used. The humans had never been able to harness their powers when they had been rulers of the planet, having to use crude materials to produce energy such as coal and oil. The Angels had found it truly pathetic.

Once they had mastered the use of the materia, they had believed it was their sole right and duty to liberate the human's control of Earth. Thus they had killed almost all the people of Earth.

Tifa looked over at Aerith. "Got anything to hold these in?"

"Besides pockets? Um…there're materia slots in my weapon and armor. You?"

"Same."

"Well, then. We had better grab the materia we're positive to need in the future."

"Healing, power boosts, and spells?" Tifa guessed.

"And maybe a few summons, if we can fit 'em," Aerith nodded.

"Ready? Grab 'em and bag 'em!"

The two girls dashed into the piles of orbs, picking and choosing through the different colors. When they had grabbed as many as they could carry, they rushed out of the room and back out into the hall.

"I wonder why they haven't sounded the alarm yet…" Tifa said absently.

"Well, you knocked out that healer, remember? And I guess General Pain was rather busy--"

Aerith was cut off as a loud ringing went through the halls as red lights flashed.

"There it is!"

A metallic voice sounded through the long halls saying, "**WARNING: TWO SOLDIERS ESCAPING THROUGH THE WEST WING. ALL FORCES ARE TO APPREHEND THEM AND BRING THEM TO GENERAL PAIN. REPAT--**"

The two girls looked at one another and began running even faster. Tifa looked over at Aerith, a sudden thought occurring to her. "We're not in space are we?!"

"I think we'd notice if we were, Tifa," Aerith replied.

"Well, I've never known Angels to have a love of windows or anything, so…"

"Just keep running!!"

The girls glanced behind them as footsteps alerted them to more Angels approach.

"Stop!!" Neither girl acknowledged the command and kept on running down the hall to their escape.

Suddenly, Aerith grabbed Tifa's hand and led her down a separate hall yelling, "This way!!" The two women went through a maze of different halls, trying to throw off their pursuers in a hurried manner.

"Why are we going this way, Aerith?!" Tifa whispered urgently.

"There's someone here I promised to help," Aerith explained. "What spells did you get?"

"Thunder and Fire."

"Summons?"

"Uh…Shiva…?"

"Good enough."

Aerith continued to drag Tifa by the wrist. She turned many different directions to where Tifa had no idea where the two were anymore. She was sure they didn't have to worry about followers. "Aerith! Where the hell are we going?!"

"The dungeons," the brunette answered quietly.

Tifa was quiet for a moment before asking, "Is this about that girl you've befriended?"

Aerith didn't answer. Tifa took the hint and followed along quietly. The two mazed their way through the halls till they finally reached their destination.

"Marlene," Aerith whispered.

There was no answer.

"Marlene! It's me, Aerith!" the brunette whispered again.

The dungeon was still a moment longer before the hand of a young girl appeared from one of the cells. "Aerith, over here!"

The two women rushed over to the cell door to see a small brunette girl about four years old. Tifa stared at the little thing for a moment. "The Angels are taking girls _this_ little to be 'Delivered?' Those monsters!"

Aerith nodded her consent before turning to the lock on the door. She turned to Tifa. "You said you have Shiva?" Tifa nodded. "Can you use her on the lock?"

"I'd think we'd want something powerful in our arsenal for when we're getting chased by Angels again.

Aerith was silent for a moment before nodding. "Point taken. Okay then, let's see if this works…"

The girl reached through her hair and brought out a bobby pin. Tifa nearly fell over.

"You had _that_ and you go and make all this noise?!"

Aerith just smirked and began to pick the lock. After a few tense moments, she managed to get it to click open. Tifa stepped over and threw the door aside. She held her hand out to Marlene.

"Come on, Hun. It's going to be okay," the woman said softly. The girl nodded shyly and took Tifa's hand. Tifa picked up the four-year-old and tucked her into her arm like a mother. Tifa turned back to Aerith. "Come on let's get out of here!" Aerith nodded.

The two woman re-worked their way through their self-made maze back to the first floor. By then, the alert had quieted and there was practically no one in the halls.

Tifa mused, "This is weird…"

Aerith was about to answer when another alarm sounded. "**WARNING: INTRUDER ALERT! HUMAN MALE SIGHTED OUTSIDE! ALL SOLDIERS ARE TO RESPOND IMMEDIATELY!**"

Aerith and Tifa gaped at each other. There were men still left in the world?! Then, Tifa smirked. "Perfect distraction don't you think, Aerith?"

"Hmm, we better start running."

The two nodded and headed straight for the front door. They crashed through the door and heard a distant beeping on the sides of the building and they shot skywards into the moonless night.

_\| ******--****** |/_

Cloud made it into Midguard without a hitch, keeping to shadows. Had he been younger, keeping to the shadows and sneaking about might have been fun when there weren't crazed, winged robots roaming about in women's skins. However, there _were_ psychotic winged bitches roaming and he _wasn't_ a child anymore.

He didn't miss it much, actually.

Cloud was starting to tire when he reached the slums where his home was. He pushed his pounding legs a bit further before he finally stopped. _Man,_ he thought, _we've been underground too long. Normally, I could run this kind of distance without breaking a sweat…_

He began to wonder how Zack and Barret and the kid were. He glanced at his watch. It was 6:30 in the morning, and he could see the sun starting to come up. He looked around quickly for a place to sleep without being found by the Angels. He spotted a church on the other side of the street. He glanced around quickly, noting how fast the sun was rising. Seeing no one- and thanking his stars he didn't- he sprinted to the other side of the street and through the large oak double doors shutting them quietly behind him. He looked around himself at the aging ebony pews and alter. It was a very old fashioned church; the floor had decayed in some places close to the wall near the front of the church.

All was silent in the church. Reverent, almost as if the once holy building grieved for the people who would never again walk down the aisle. Cloud reveled in that silenceas it meant he might have a chance to rest. He walked to the front of the church looking for an alcove to hide in.

Finally, he found it off to the left of the weathered alter and warily went in. Cloud looked about to make sure no one was outside or inside the alcove before settling down in the small space. He looked around the room. There was a small window on the east side of the room letting in white gold light and illuminating the entire room and a broken water spigot pump. Cloud blinked at it; he vaguely wondered how karma was going to get back at him for all this good luck he kept blundering into.

Cloud decided to settle beneath the window as it was the shadiest place in the alcove and if anybody happened to look through the window, they wouldn't see him.

With that, Cloud fell into a restless sleep.

_\| ******--****** |/_

"…_**Die."**_

Cloud woke with a start, the sound of a gun shot ringing in his ears. He gasped shallow breaths as he started to regain conscience thought.

He shivered a little bit and noted the lighting in the room. It was twilight, the minimal light casting the room in deep shadows and the silence that had seemed reverent in the day now seemed mocking. Cruel and uncaring. Cloud huffed and stood. It was about time to be heading back home to his friends and companions.

He opened the alcove door a smidge, listening for any movement inside the chapel. The chapel echoed silently. Cloud made his way out of the alcove warily. He strained his ears for any sounds outside.

The blond man froze as his ears picked up a hitched breath from alter. His eyes flashed quickly over to the alter and saw two women sleeping against the ebony table. His eyes widened at a shimmer of silver.

_Angels…!_

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Me: geeze! this took forever to write! good thing it's summer.

Fuu: 'cept we're in TX.

All: XP July in TX...

Xao: anyhow, we worked hard on this--

Me: WHADYA MEAN "WE?!" I DIDN'T SEE YOU TWO DO ANYTHING!!!!

Xao: so plz review our hard work.

Fuu: see ya next! ^^


	2. Chapter 2

Me: Wow, it's been...two years since I last updated this?

Xao: Yeah. Where've you been?

Me: You shut up. You're my writing muse. It's your job to keep me from being lazy, and continually update.

Xao: Nobody can do that.

Fuu: We own nothing. even if we did own something, we wouldn't know what to do with it. So Yeah.

Me: Enjoy. ...And excuse me. (chases Xao with baseball bat)

Chapter 2

"Geeze, where the hell is Cloud?"

Barret looked over to where Zack was leaning back in his chair. Doing absolutely nothing.

"Get to work, you lazy SOB!"

"Go get laid, Barret. I already did my work for today. Besides, Cloud isn't back. And he should be."

"Stupid idiot probably got lost. You know that when it comes to reading a map, the dolt's useless. I don't care how fucking strong he is."

Zack smirked in acknowledgement. Cloud's sense of direction _was_ pretty lousy, at best. Still, "You're just jealous cause he got to lead the first blow against those psycho hotties."

"Only you," Barret growled, "would have the _balls_ to calls those homicidal bitches' _hotties_."

Zack laughed, "I'm just special like that."

"Yeah. Special ed." Barret sighed in contempt. "KID! Where're those parts I asked for?"

_\| ******-****** |/_

Cloud stayed frozen. How? There was _no way_ that they could have tracked him so fast! There hadn't been a single Angel following him last night!

His mouth tightened into a thin, dark and determined line. It didn't matter. He was not going to just die at the hands of these winged freaks! They were going to die first. Cloud drew his sword and tiptoed as quietly as he could towards the women that lay sleeping against the alter. He raised his sword to strike—

And blinked as the wind was knocked out him, a knee landed hard on his chest, and slender but strong hand wrapped securely around his throat. He blinked. Above him, the Angel was glowering angrily at him, her fist raised, ready to strike hard against him. The Angel's long black hair pooled to the side of them, and her eyes glowed in promise of death and vengeance.

Cloud mentally shook himself and bridged his hips and kneed the woman in the ass. The Angel fell to the side with a surprised grunt and Cloud got up quickly, bringing his sword to the ready. His throat was beginning to turn a deep scarlet from the bruise where the black haired Angel had been choking him. '_Damn, that was way too close. Vigilante! Stay vigilante!_'

The woman kneeled on all fours, like a lioness tensed to pounce. She opened her mouth and spoke. "So you're the human male that's survived."

Cloud winced internally at the sound of the woman's voice. There was nothing really wrong with it. At one time, even, he might have called the voice lilting, beautiful, perhaps even soothing.

But those times had long since passed.

"Yeah. And I'm guessing you're my executioner?"

"You threatened me first, kid."

Cloud blinked and nearly downright gaped at the woman. "_I _threatened _you_? _You_ threaten _me_ just by existing, you winged bitch!"

"We mean you no harm."

Cloud started. He'd forgotten about the other one. He turned slightly to keep her in sights. But she—

She was kneeling on the floor. Not doing anything. Holding a young girl.

A young girl with no wings attached.

Cloud gaped for real this time. What the hell was going on here?

_\| ******-****** |/_

Tifa watched the boy before her closely. He was actually kind of cute, once you got past the angry glare and surly silence.

She glanced once more at Aerith. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Aerith looked at her steadily. "We have nothing to lose. And I'm sure we can help him in turn."

"That's only assuming if there are more males like him, and that's _also_ assuming that he can find them without alerting the others to our whereabouts."

Cloud glared over his shoulder at the two girls. "They'll find us faster if you two don't stop babbling," he snapped. Turning back to look ahead, he snuck around the next corner.

Tifa held Marlene closer to her chest and sprinted after Cloud, wishing she had something, _anything_ to hide her wings from sight. She felt extremely conspicuous out in the sunlight, running from her once before "comrades." She glanced over her shoulder at Aerith. The braided girl looked up at the sky to make sure no one was around to see them before she ran after Tifa and Cloud.

_\| ******-****** |/_

As Aerith ran after her sister and the blond boy with gravity-defying hair, she kept looking at the sky, waiting for another blood thirsty Angel to descend upon them all. And with each glance towards that vast expanse of blue, she felt more and more certain that whatever happened next, she and Tifa could never again abandon the boy, his companions, and especially not Marlene.

Me: So that was the second chapter of Angels. Hoped you liked it!

Fuu: Review, review, review!

Xao: You don't review and Emi will come after you with a giant wooden bat. and if you think i'm kidding...

Me: well, you'll be found eventually... te hehehe. Laterz! ^^


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